1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



875 



the giant nozzle is kept at work night and 

 day and Sundays, lender a head of 300 feet 

 pressure this stream of water will tumble over 

 and over large boulders. If it should strike a 

 man it would be instant death to him. I have 

 put my finger on the stream at the outlet of 

 the nozzle, and it feels as hard as a bone. 

 Give the miner plenty of water and the proper 

 pressure, and he can say to yonder hill, " Re- 

 move to yonder valley," and in a few weeks 

 it is done. 



I give your readers a view of one of these 

 mines, with the streams in operation, also a 

 view of the beautiful valley in which our bee- 

 keeping operations will be performed for the 

 season. In the foreground at the extreme 

 right the reader will find a tall dead pine tree. 

 The top of this covers a small portion of one 

 of the gold-mines. The ground, covering 

 many acres, is washed off to the bedrock; just 

 below it are two white buildings. That is 

 the location of our apiary. Further to the 

 left, and below, the next gold-mine is located. 



The reader has now quite an idea of our 

 mountain home, and now for the next few 

 Rambles bee-keeping will be the sole theme 

 under consideration. 



LARGE VS. SMALL ENTRANCES. 



The Dovetailed Hive with Flat Cover ; Raising the 

 Cover to Prevent Combs from Melting Down. 



BY W. W. SOMERFORD. 



I see in Gi^Eanings, Aug. 15, in "Season- 

 able Questions," by G. M. Doolittle, that the 

 entrance question is so completely covered by 

 Mr. G. M. D. that it can not last much if any 

 longer. I will add, before it closes, for the 

 benefit of extracted-honey men, and women 

 too, who use the Root Dovetailed hive with 

 flat covers, it is the very best hive in the world, 

 to my notion, after trying the varieties in the 

 United States and Cuba, to my financial regret. 

 To perfectly ventilate said hive for Cuba and 



VIEW IN SCOTT VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. 



The town is much scattered. The little church 

 shows up quite prominently. When this 

 photo was taken (in early May) the alfalfa- 

 fields all through the valley were green and 

 thriving; and, though every thing looked so 

 beautiful, the people were complaining about 

 prospective dry weather. They gauged their 

 predictions by the amount of snow on yonder 

 mountains. To insure a continuous flow of 

 water in the streams the snow should cover 

 the mountains at least two-thirds of the way 

 down. 



Our little valley is about 2600 feet above 

 sea-level, and the snow often falls to the depth 

 of six feet, and, in some favored localities, 

 twelve feet. The latter means plenty of water 

 for all the industries of the valley, which, of 

 course, include our industry of bee-keeping. 



vSouth Texas, where 100° in the shade is no 

 uncommon thing, simply raise the cover and 

 pull it back far enough for the grooved cleat 

 on the end of the cover to rest on the front 

 end of the hive, thus giving a wedge-shaped 

 hole on each side of hive at top, varying in 

 width from y^ inch to almost nothing near 

 the back end of the hive. If ventilated thus, 

 hives with flat covers ( even though covers are 

 made of stuff only j^ inch thick) will be per- 

 fectly safe to sit in any tropical sun, even 

 when combs are full of honey in the top story. 

 Then, you know, is the time they melt down 

 — when full of honey. 



On visiting a neighbor's apiary, a part of 

 which enjoys the full benefit of the sun, at the 

 beginning of August, the first remark was, 

 ' ' How do you keep your combs from melting 



